Tonga's Energy Minister Hon. Poasi Tei in Beijing, China, recently thanked the Government of China for donating the 2.25 Megawatt wind power station in Tongatapu under the Belt and Road Initiatives. Tonga is one of the 29 global membership of BREP, and the only representative from the Pacific.

The use of new technology to facilitate trade and address food safety was discussed at the International Forum on Food Safety and Trade held on 23-24 April, by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Addis Ababa.

A three days workshop on the World Trade Organization Notification Requirements began in Nuku’alofa on 15 April, with the aim of assisting Tongan officials to understand necessary notification processes. “I think Tonga should be able to fulfil its obligation, and we hope that after this workshop, Tonga clears the backlog that it has got,” said Dr Edwini Kessie, a WTO official.

Eight fishing boats donated to Tonga from Dongguan Municipality in China in January this year, were returned when officials discovered, after inspecting the vessels, they were of a low quality and none were up to standard. However, China has provided funds to build the new fishing boats here in Tonga.

A large solar plant is to be built on Tongatapu to start operating by 2020, after a Power Purchase Agreement was signed with Sunergise New Zealand Limited on March 21, in Nuku'alofa. It is to be built over three interconnected sites at Fahefa, Fualu and Liukava.

There's a possibility that Tonga will be able to benefit from its deep sea resources because of the regime that has been established by the law of the sea. Regulations for Deep Seabed Mining planned by the end of 2020, will enable investment, the Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority Mr Michael W. Lodge explained in Nuku‘alofa yesterday, 12 February. By Pesi Fonua

Tonga’s aim to reach 50% of renewable energy by 2020 is on track said Tonga Power Ltd CEO, Seti Chen. “The goal of renewable energy is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel (diesel),” he told Matangi Tonga, while they have seen growth in demand for power increasing more than they thought it would. He said one of the biggest misconceptions is people thinking their electricity bills will be reduced by 50% once the project is completed. “It’s not 50% off the tariff that will be reduced, it’s actually 50% off the diesel that we are displacing,” said Seti. By Eleanor Gee

Tonga’s broken international submarine fibre optic cable should be fixed by midday tomorrow, if all goes to plan, according to the operations team on board the cable repair ship ‘Reliance’. The cable blackout is entering Day 13 on Saturday February 2.

A satellite service provider has helped Digicel Tonga continue to quickly restore critical mobile and broadband connection for its business and regular customers after Tonga's fibre optic submarine cable was damaged on 20 January, causing an internet and data services blackout.

A second fault on the international submarine cable, which connects Tonga through the Southern Cross Cable Network to Fiji, was located further out to sea from the first fault, early this morning, 30 January.

The Reliance has located the damaged fibre optic internet cable at sea today, 29 January, near Tongatapu, but they found cable was lying around 100 metres south-east off-course from where it was originally laid.